Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Rajeev Chandrasekhar is an Indian Politician and the former Minister of State for the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. He was an MP of Rajya Sabha from 2006 to 2024, representing Karnataka as a member of Bhartiya Janata party (BJP). He has held several positions in the government, which include the Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. Chandrasekhar contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election against Congress’s Shashi Tharoor in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He lost to Tharoor by 16077 votes. After the election result in 2024, Chandrasekhar was not given any ministerial position in the new coalition formed under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

In 2012, Chandrashekhar along with Captain Kalia’s father Dr. N.K. Kalia founded Flags of Honour Foundation to raised the independent investigations on the torture and death of Saurabh Kalia and five jawans of the 4 Jet Regiment during the Kargil War in 1999 in Parliament. He had also said that the UNHRC should take up the case to declare this act a war crime and press the International Court of Justice to expose and pressure Pakistan to identify and punish all the perpetrators of this brutal crime.

He started his political journey in 2006, where he was elected to the Rajya Sabha representing Urban Bengaluru, Karnataka. Then in 2008 to 2009, he served as the youngest president of FICCI- Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In 2012, he was unanimously re-elected for a second term in Rajya Sabha.

In 2018, he was re-elected as a member of Rajya Sabha from Karnataka. He was appointed as the National Spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata party in September 2020. During his tenure as the IT minister, Chandrasekhar focused on policies like Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023. Rajeev Chandrasekhar consultations with stakeholders, emphasized protecting citizens’ privacy, and balanced it with the needs of innovation and ease of compliance for businesses. Chandrasekhar also oversaw the creation of the Data Protection Board to handle disputes and ensure effective implementation of the Act.

The Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act 2023, consent framework mandates verifiable parental consent for child users below age 18 for accessing social media and other similar services. It outlines duties for individuals, such as providing accurate information and ensuring personal data is corrected or erased authentically. Also, the Act requires firms to secure the personal data irrespective of the fact that they are being stored with third-party processors, and to notify the Data Protection Board (DPB) and users in the event of a data breach. Additionally, companies are required to appoint a Data Protection Officer and share their details with users to ensure transparency and accountability. Opposition raised a criticism of the bill about the potential dilutions of the Right to Information Act, 2005. The bill was, however, criticized by the opposition for the possible dilution of the Right to Information Act, 2005. Amidst opposition protests, it was passed in Lok Sabha on August 7, 2023, and in Rajya Sabha on August 9, 2023, before coming under the President's approval. The DPDP Act is projected to come into effect in the upcoming year.

In May 2018, BOOM debunked misinformation shared by Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who tweeted a video of Gandhi claiming he spoke about Congress government's corruption in Karnataka headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah

BOOM found out the video is from April 26, 2013, during a rally in Tumkur, Karnataka, where Gandhi in his speech was criticizing the previous BJP government in Karnataka for corruption, not making the claims suggested by the viral post.